Monday, January 21, 2013

Skin 101: How Your Skin Works

So, before I get into what you
can do for your skin, I want to give you a quick run-down of how your skin
actually works.Knowing how it works,
and what skin type you have, is essential in figuring out what your skin needs.

When your pores work correctly,
they allow just enough sebum (your skin’s natural oil) through to spread across
your face and lubricate your skin, acting as a barrier to seal in moisture and
keep it healthy. This happens for those lucky people with normal skin and
small, even pores.

There are two main reasons that
this can go wrong: over-production of sebum, and rapid shedding of dead skin
cells. When your skin cells shed too rapidly, they can get clogged in your
pores instead of getting pushed out as they should. Some people with very oily
skin actually produce sebum that is extra sticky. (Hormones have a big role in
causing oily skin.) When these two problems combine, the dead skin cells mix
with oil and dirt to create a sebum plug, which is what causes clogged pores,
also known as comedones.

When a comedone has an opening
exposed to air, it oxidizes and turns black—that’s a blackhead! When the
comedone stays under the skin with no opening, it’s a whitehead. And when a
comedone becomes infected and inflamed, it becomes a pimple. Cystic acne
happens a bit differently and is more difficult to treat. The oil-producing
glands actually rupture deep under the skin and cause major inflammation and infection.
Each of these types of acne and blemishes require different treatments, which
I’ll cover in future posts.

There’s nothing you can do to
change the skin you’re born with, it’s mostly up to genetics whether you are
normal, dry, oily, combination, acne-prone, or sensitive. And you can be pretty
much any combination of those! But there
are some things you can do to help your skin stay healthy and clear, especially
once you’ve targeted your specific skin concerns. Believe me, it took some
serious trial-and-error to figure out what my skin needs, and I’m still
learning!

So, now you know the basics.
I’ll be doing some more in-depth posts on each skin type, some of my favorite
products, and how to give any skin a healthy glow.